WHAT ARE HEBREW IDIOMS?
A place to begin learning about Hebrew thought is in the realm of the Hebrew idiom. By definition an idiom is:
"A speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be
understood from the individual meanings of its elements, as in keep tabs on‖. (The American Heritage
Dictionary)The English language is full of idiomatic expressions. That is one of the reasons it is such a difficult language
for non-English speakers to learn.
Hebrew is also rich in idiomatic expressions. Since very few Believers are fluent in Hebrew, it is necessary
for us to read and study the Scriptures in our native language. One of the most difficult tasks a translator
faces is how to make the idioms understandable in the language to which he is translating. While this
is certainly a challenge for the scholars who translate the Old Covenant from Hebrew to English, the task is
complicated even further when it comes to the New Covenant. Many Biblical scholars now agree that many
of the New Covenant books were originally written in Hebrew and later translated into Greek. This means
that our English copies of the New Covenant are really translations of translations, which makes the
rendering of the Hebrew idioms even more difficult than merely going directly from Hebrew to English.
Because of these idiomatic problems, certain New Covenant passages are difficult to understand, as the
following example illustrates. Here Y‘shua is teaching about putting material things (vs. spiritual things) in
their proper perspective:
―‘Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break
in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and
where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good your whole body will be full of light. But if
your eye is bad [ ̳evil' in KJV], your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is
darkness, how great is that darkness!No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to
the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon‘‖. (Mat 6:19-24 NKJV)This passage continues on with more exhortation about seeking the Kingdom of YHWH, rather than chasing
after physical things.
The question often arises: Why is the passage about the ̳evil eye‘ stuck in the middle of an exhortation about
material possessions as opposed to spiritual riches? The answer is simple if one understands the Hebrew
idiom involved, for in Hebrew the expression ̳evil eye‘ means a person who is stingy. In Jewish teaching, it
specifically pertains to the farmer who was required by Torah to leave the corners of his fields for gleaning by
the poor:
―When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you
gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every
grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the LORD your God‖.
(Lev 19:9-10 NKJV)A farmer who left large corners of his field unharvested and did not pick his grapes too closely was
considered to have a ̳good eye‘. This meant that he was a generous man who provided adequately for the
poor. However, one who left only very small corners on his field, and picked the vines nearly clean was said
to have an ̳evil eye‘. Thus, we see that Y‘shua was using a Hebrew idiom common to His day in order to
teach a lesson about being generous to those in need. In the larger context of the passage, it is evident that
Y‘shua was telling the people that a person with an ̳evil eye‘ was one who was more concerned with the
material than he was with the spiritual. Therefore, that person's god had become mammon, rather than the
merciful YHWH of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya'acov (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), who was intimately
concerned about the needs of the poor. This understanding would have been readily apparent to the Jewish
people present when Y‘shua gave this teaching, but it is hidden from most Christians‘ understanding today
because of His use of this Hebrew idiom.
WHAT ARE MISTRANSLATIONS AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS?
A common problem that exists in our English Bibles is mistranslation of the original text. Sometimes this
seems to be the direct result of translators who were attempting to remove all hint of ̳Jewishness‘